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Saturday, August 25, 2012

SK-II is one of the only topical products that have actually made any noticeable difference to my skin.

You always hear that the earlier you start using anti-aging products the better. Personally I’m a topical product sceptic. I’m dubious that topical products can really make a difference to your body’s cells. Surely diet must have the greatest impact. But then again, I couldn’t ignore the great reviews I’m hearing about SK-II’s Skin Signature Cream.
SK-II makes the following bold promise:

Clinically proven to help you look up to 4 years younger in just one month, this anti-aging moisturiser helps strength Skin Power to give your skin total beauty through a balance of firmness, smoothness and radiance.

The ‘secret’ of SK-II is that now broken record of a story about the discovery that women who worked at a Japanese sake brewery had very soft and youthful hands. After much research, scientists were able to isolate the chemical responsible for this effect, Pitera.
So we know that this product is suppose to make your skin:

Firmer

Smoother, and

More radiant.

For me, the fact that SK-II is Japanese brand somewhat improves its street cred. However, on further research into this brand, it actually turns out that SK-II was originally a product by the Japanese branch of Max Factor back in the 1980. When P&G took over Max Factor Japan, it released SK-II as a stand alone prestige cosmetics brand, and is now become one of the world’s most expensive beauty brands.

The cream itself is unscented, which those with sensitive skin will love, but personally i do appreciate a nice perfume in products!

The consistency is silky smooth and somewhat thin, so you’ll be forgiven for assuming that you’ll have to use a lot of this product to get the needed moisture. But surprisingly, with Skin Signature, a little goes a long way. People are saying that this is one of the saving graces for the price being so high, that it lasts you a really long time.

Skin Signature moisturiser, when applied to the skin, feels a bit more like a lotion than a cream.

It’s quickly absorbed into the skin. What I love is that it’s not oily or sticky, and leaves skin feeling refreshed rather than heavy.

I wonder how much difference it makes to apply SK-II Skin Signature in the way recommended by SK-II. So complicated!

And the result? I’ve used SK-II Skin Signature for 2 weeks now, and I’m actually able to say that SK-II is one of the only topical products that have actually made any noticeable difference to my skin. While I haven’t noticed any improved firmness, my skin feels smoother and looks brighter (more radiant). But something I didn’t expect was how balanced my skin has become. I have combination skin, with an oily t-zone and super dry and flaky patches. After using Skin Signature, I’m no longer experiencing those extreme oiliness or dryness, and my skin seems to have balanced itself out.

And what about price? This is an outrageously expensive product. At the counter, you can get it in 50g and 80g sizes. The 50g will set you back an already gasp inducing $130, but the 80g, at over $200, will leave you wondering if it could ever be worth the asking price. When the SK-II lady told me the price a the counter, the look on her face said loud and clear to me ‘I don’t even know why you asked, you know you can’t afford it’!

Luckily, you can get this cream online for much more reasonable prices. I’ve seen the 80g being sold at various online retailers at the price of the 50g, at around $130. At Sasa.com, you can actually get a 15g size for a totally affordable $20!

I can only imagine that this is a deluxe sample, as I haven’t seen at 15g size anywhere else, and Sasa is known for selling samples for great prices. In fact, if you really just wanted to give this product a try, you can get a 2.5g size sample from Sasa for just $3.90. However, you can also get this sample from the SK-II counter, if you ask.

Non-oily and quickly absorbed

Improves skin texture and radiance

Seems to help balance out skin condition

A little goes a long way

Very expensive, but deluxe samples can be purchased online for much more affordable prices

Incidentally, there also another product out at the moment which, by all accounts, is based on Pite: Rice Force. Of course, Pitera is trademarked by SK-II so Rice Force calls it ‘Rice Power Extract’. Rice Force also promises similar anti-aging effects. You can get a Trial kit with three deluxe samples for just $29.80. But the price of full sized products is not much lower than SK-II! I’ve tried Rice Force (review to come) but didn’t notice much difference in my skin, but that could just be the classic ‘price placebo’ effect, where you expect more expensive stuff to work better!